The spelling of the term "BamNI Endonuclease" is determined by its phonetic transcription in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The first syllable "Bam" is pronounced with the short vowel sound /æ/, which is commonly used in words such as "cat" or "hat". The second syllable "NI" is pronounced with a long vowel sound /naɪ/, as in the word "nine". Finally, "endonuclease" is pronounced with stress on the third syllable, with the "eu" sound represented by /ju:/, like in "few".
BamNI Endonuclease is a type II restriction enzyme that recognizes a specific DNA sequence and cleaves it at a specific point. It is derived from the bacteria Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain H and belongs to the family of restriction enzymes known as BamHI restrictases.
BamNI endonuclease recognizes the palindromic DNA sequence 5’-G/GATCC-3’ (where the cleavage site is indicated by the forward slash) and cleaves between the two G nucleotides, generating sticky ends with a 5’ overhang of four bases (5’-GATC-3’). Specifically, the enzyme recognizes the sequence G*GATCC, where * denotes the cleavage site.
This restriction enzyme is widely used in molecular biology research for DNA manipulation, cloning, and sequencing purposes. By cutting DNA at specific sites, BamNI endonuclease allows for the creation of DNA fragments with cohesive ends that can be ligated with complementary ends of other DNA molecules. It is commonly used in restriction enzyme analysis, where multiple enzymes may be combined to obtain specific fragments for further study.
BamNI endonuclease is often purified from bacterial sources using various molecular biology techniques. Its biochemical properties, such as optimal temperature and pH range, as well as its recognition sequence, make it a valuable tool in genetic engineering and molecular biology studies.
The word "BamHI Endonuclease" has an interesting etymology.
The term "BamHI" is derived from the acronym formed by combining the initials of the researchers who discovered this restriction enzyme. It was named after its discoverers, Richard J. Roberts, Kathleen Danna, and Jack Howell, who were affiliated with the Boyer Plant Research Institute (now called New England Biolabs) in Massachusetts, USA. "Bam" in "BamHI" comes from Boyer and Meselson, in honor of two other scientists involved in the early studies on restriction endonucleases, Paul Berg and Matthew Meselson.
The term "endonuclease" consists of two parts: "endo-" meaning "within" or "inside", and "nuclease" referring to an enzyme that cleaves or breaks down nucleic acids.